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Division II

Women's Basketball

Wayne Cavadi | NCAA.com | January 4, 2019

Division II women's basketball: These five players stuffed the stat sheets in the first half of the season

Dominican Athletics

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Each month, NCAA.com will take a look at the statistical leaders at each position and put together a starting five based purely on stats. Here is a position-by-position look at the standout performers from the 2018 slate of the season.

G — Karlee Alves, Merrimack

The senior guard won’t light up the scoreboard with points, averaging just 7.8 per game, but she’s atop the DII women’s basketball leaderboards with 8.9 assists per game and third with 4.0 steals per game. Her 107 assists and 48 steals are both best in the Northeast-10 Conference and DII. Alves also makes her presences felt on the boards, pulling down 4.4 rebounds per night. She’s posted five games with double-digit assists already this season.

G — Natalie Diaz, Dominican

Diaz came out scorching hot this year, dropping 34 points on opening night. She really hasn’t cooled down, ripping off more than 30 points in four of her next five games. Diaz is efficient for a big-time scorer, successful on 52.6 percent of her field goal attempts. She isn’t simply DII’s best scorer, averaging 30.7 per night, but is extremely versatile, chipping in 8.6 rebounds per game.

F — Kiana Steinauer, Southern Connecticut State

Steinauer wowed us in a mid-December game against Concordia (NY) in which she became the second player in DII women’s basketball history to score 30 points and rip down 30 rebounds in the same game. That alone should warrant her a spot on the list, but she is also leading DII women’s basketball in rebounds, with 15.9 per game. Throw in a scoring average of over 15 points per game and Steinauer is off to a monster start.

F — Riley Fitzwater, Concord

Seairra Barrett of California (Pa) with her 26.1 points per game to go along with seven rebounds and over three steals per game is a strong candidate, but Fitzwater is following a breakout freshman campaign with a sensational sophomore start. Fitzwater is averaging 13.9 points per game but leads DII women's basketball in blocks (4.56 per game) and field goal percentage at an astounding 73.8 percent, all while ripping down 13.1 boards a night.

C — Dana Watts, American International

Watts has been one of the best centers in DII women’s basketball for the past three seasons, really coming into her own in her sophomore and junior seasons by averaging 21.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Her senior season has been right on par, already scoring 21.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game through her first 11 starts. Throw in that she’s a beast defensively, averaging more than one block per game and there are few that can rival her presence in the paint.